Drawer construction



Aug. 30, 1955 w. S'TRAUBEL 2,716,583

DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l 13 i -QLTT "i'i:;ii;f INVENTOR Clarence WSl'raubeL 0, 1955 c. w. STRAUBEL 2,716,583

DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet n Clarence WSiraubeL.

United States Patent '0 DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Clarence W. Straubel, Loganbrooke, Ohio, assignor to The General Fireproofing Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 3, 1952, Serial No. 307,682

9 Claims. (Cl. 312-303) This invention relates to an improvement in drawers for filing cabinets, and is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 141,965, filed February 2, 1950, now Patent No. 2,648,585, granted August 11, 1953.

More particularly, the present improvements are di-- tilting movement of the drawer front in a manner positively to prevent the wing shields from becoming disengaged at their rear free ends from the inverted channels at the upper edges of the drawer sides in which they ride or slide during the opening swinging movement of the drawer front.

With the above, and other objects in view which may appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter claimed and set forth, and also shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are partial longitudinal sectional views of a drawer body and drawer front with the front closed in Figure l and open in Figure 2.

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the wing shields.

Figure 4 is a detail view partly in section showing a modified form of wing shield.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of a side wing and a portion of the drawer side illustrating the cooperating means forming one of the wing stops.

Similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout the drawings.

The drawer body A includes the usual bottom 10 and the sides 11 having the outwardly and preferably downwardly turned flange portions at their upper edges forming inverted channels 12. The bottom 10 has hinged thereto the tilting front B by a pivot axis or shaft 13 for swinging movement to and from the front of the drawer sides. The drawer front is provided at its inner side with a compressor plate C hinged as at 14 independently of the shaft 13 for inwardly spring urged swinging movement and latching engagement at its upper end with the inner face of the drawer front. These two features are described in my pending application Serial No. 141,965 filed February 2, 1950, now Patent No. 2,648,585 granted August 11, 1953.

The drawer front B is provided with the rearwardly extending wings W which, as will presently appear include means to limit the outward movement of the drawer front and whose upper edges are covered by the shields S which are slidably guided in the inverted channels 12 at the upper edges of the drawer sides. In this 2,716,583 Patented Aug. 30, 1955 "ice vention described herein would be just as effective if the outer flange of the channel were omitted and the top edge of the drawer assumed the form of a laterally extending flange. p

The tops of the wings are curved concentrically relative to the pivotal axis 13 of the drawer front B and during opening and closing movements of the drawer front B the wings W close the front ends of the channels 12, as well as cushion final closing movement of the drawer front.

The shields S are made of resilient material and are of inverted U-shape in 'crosssection to fit over the top portions of the wings W and also are curved to conform to the curvature of the tops of said wings. Moreover, the front or outer end portions of said shield pieces are progressively flared in width toward their outer ends as indicated at 14 to wedgingly engage in the front end portions of the channels 12 of the drawer sides during the final portion of closing movement of the drawer front B so as to cushion closing of the door front.

While the shield pieces S may be mounted op- A eratively relative to the wings W in any suitable manner, one practical manner of mounting them may reside in providing the same at their front ends with angularly disposed spring arm .ortail portions which are downward extensions 15 of their top walls, and in providing said downward extensions with slots 16 to accommodate tongues 17 provided at the front ends of the wings W near the tops of the latter. The downward extensions 15 preferably includes the tail portion 15a terminating in the offset tip 15b and when assembled with tongue 17 engages a non-metallic disc of felt or the like 18 on the inner plate 19 of the drawer front B and may be resilient so as to react from said disk and plate 19 to tend constantly to tilt the shield pieces S upwardly about the tongue 17, thus to maintain the tops of said shield pieces constantly engaged with the top walls of the drawer channels 12 so as to avoid unsightly gaps and finger hazard between the tops of said wings and the said top walls of the channels 12 at the front ends of the latter.

A modification of the inner end of the shields S is shown in Figure 4, wherein the tailpiece 150 is of longitudinally arched formation so that its intermediate portion abuts and covers the non-metallic shock absorbing button 15d on. the inner face of the drawer wall 19 while its extremity 15e enters slot 19a in the inner plate 19 of the drawerhead.

To limit the outward movement of the drawer front and also prevent the rear ends of the shields S from escaping from the channels 12, the wings W are formed on the rear of their arcuate top portions with an upwardly directed arm 20'whose top edge 21 is adapted to engage with a bumper 22 fitted in the inverted channel 12. This bumper may be of rubber, felt, plastic, hard fiber, or equivalent material which will have little or no resonance when struck by arm 20 to deaden sound and also positively limit the outward movement of the drawer front through the wings for the purposes heretofore indicated.

I claim:

1. A filing cabinet drawer including side walls provided at their tops with downwardly opening channel formations, a drawer front swingable between closed and open positions relative to the drawer and including side wings, the top marginal portions of which travel in the front portions of said channel formations during opening and closing movements of the drawer front, and shield elements of inverted U-shape in cross section attached to said wings and disposed over the top marginal portions of said wings, said shield elements being movable with the wings and having portions free of the wings in sliding engagement with the interior of said channel formations.

2. A filing cabinet drawer including side walls provided at their tops with downwardly opening channel formations, a drawer front swingable between closed and open positions relative to the drawer and including side wings the top marginal portions of which travel'in the front portions of said channel formations during opening and closing movements of the drawer front, shield elements of inverted U-shape in cross section engaged over the top marginal portions of said wings, the front portions of said shield elements being flared for wedging engagement between the walls defining the sides of said channel formations to cushion closing movements of the drawer front.

3. A filing cabinet drawer including side walls provided at their tops with downwardly opening channel formations, a drawer front swingable between closed and open positions relative to the drawer and including side wings the top marginal portions of which travel in the front portions of said channel formations during opening and closing movements of the drawer front, shield elements of inverted U-shape in cross section engaged over the top marginal portions of said wings, means pivotally supporting said shield elements adjacent to their front ends upon the drawer front for vertical swinging movements, and spring arms depending from the front end portions of said shield elements and engaged with and reacting from the drawer front to tend constantly to swing said shield elements upwardly to maintain their tops engaged with the walls defining the tops of said channel formations.

4. A filing cabinet drawer including in combination, side Walls having laterally extending upper edge portions, a tilting front, rearwardly directed wings on the tilting front, shield elements mounted on and secured to the wings in covering relation to the upper edge portions thereof, said shield elements having portions free of the wings in slidable contact with the bottom of the said laterally extending upper edge portions of the side walls, and cooperating means on the wings and the side wall of the drawer for limiting the outward movement of the tilting front and preventing disengagement of the shield elements from the said upper edges of the side walls.

5. A filing cabinet drawer including in combination, side walls having laterally extending upper edge portions, a tilting front, rearwardly directed wings on the tilting front, having arcuate upper edge portions movable beneath the said laterally extending upper edge portions of the said side walls and spaced therefrom, elongated shield elements having dependent resilient members at their front ends, said resilient members being secured to said wings, said shield elements having a free rearwardly extending portion disposed over the arcuate upper edge portion of said wings and also beneath the laterally extending upper edge portions of the side walls, and cooperating means on the wings and the side wall said laterally extending upper edge portions of the side walls, a stop member on the underside of the laterally extending upper edge portion of a side wall, and an arm offset from a wing to engage said stop member for limiting the outward movement of the tilting front and preventing disengagement of the shield elements from the said upper edges of the side walls.

7. A wing for tilting drawer fronts moveable from a vertical closed position relative to drawer sides to an outwardly inclined open position, said wing having a tongue, a shield element comprising a body overlying the upper portion of the wing and an angularly disposed portion having a slot for receiving said tongue, said angularly disposed portion having a tail for engaging the inner face of the tilting drawer front to normally urge the shield away from the upper portion of the wing.

8. A filing cabinet drawer including, in combination, side walls having laterally extending upper edge portions, a tilting front panel, rearwardly directed wings on the said front panel overlapping said side walls to bridge the space between said front panel and side walls when the panel is tilted forward, shield elements mounted on and secured to said wings incovering relation to the upper edge portions thereof, said shields including resilient members to urge said shield elements in constant slidable contact witht thebottom of said laterally extending upper edge portions.

9. A filing cabinet drawer including, in combination, side walls having laterally extending upper edge portions, a tilting front panel, rearwardly directed wings on said front panel overlapping said side Walls to bridge the space between said front panel and side walls when the panel is tilted forwardly, shield elements in covering relation to the upper edge portions of said Wings, said shield elements having dependent resilient portions on the front thereof attached to the front of said wings to constantly urge the shield members in slidable contact with the bottom of said laterally extending upper edge portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,983,574 Straubel Dec. 11, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS 276,684 Great Britain Mar. 8, 1928 

